Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Brunch Week: Mom's Morning Casserole

The Chef: Lyndsay

The Menu: The super-extra tasty Mom's Morning Casserole from Vegan Brunch! Um, holy heck. This triple-layer treat was made of roasted potatoes, seasoned tofu and tempeh, and melted non-dairy cheese. And, according to our breath right now, about 50 cloves of garlic, about which we are all very, very happy. This savory standout was an awesomely hearty midday meal, and was perfectly complemented by a fresh salad with grated beets.

The Goods: Wow! Judging from yesterday's comments, you're all eager for the chance to win a signed copy of this awesome book! Sadly, there can be only one winner per day. Congratulations to bluebue, whose multi-course ideas caught our attention. Bluebue, send us an email with your name and mailing address, and we'll send your book right out! For the chance to win today's copy, tell us in the comments: Who are your top three ideal brunch guests?

My brother, who I love to bits, but just doesn't 'get' the vege lifestyle, my former manager, who was the first person to actually encourage my vegan tendencies, and my mother-in-law, who is an amazing cook herself, and is always super-accommodating of my diet...so that I could a) convert, b) share and c) thank them with vegan brunch goodies, all at the same time!

Oooh, a garlicky-cheezy casserole with tofu and tempeh? I'd make enough to share that with at least 100 hungry veg*ns, preferably at some epic VegWeb potluck. ;)

...but if I had to choose only three people with which to share this deliciousness at brunch, I could narrow it down to:Bryanna Clark GroganAnna, my lovely vegan "sister" from New Zealandand Woody Harrelson

...I suspect such a brunch crowd would have plenty of great conversation to share, and the food and drinks would be excellent.

I'd invite a friend who was an amazing cook and we'd make a scrumptious meal for vegan-distainer Anthony Bourdain and Lynne Rossetto Kasper from NPR's The Splendid Table. I'd like Bourdain to have a rich, flavorful vegan meal and inspire Rossetto Kasper to broadcast more about vegan dishes.

i am torn between my family types (DR, Cams and LF), buddies from vegweb (OMG if i had to pick don't hate me... HH, sharway, and hespy - old skool), or sociology/etc cool people i admire(andrew cherlin, pat hill collins, and audre lorde). well, lorde isn't a sociologist but i assign her stuff in ma classes!

Ideal brunch guests? My favorite music professor/advisor (vegetarian), my favorite geology professor/advisor (vegan), and my dad (he just like veggies). The three of them would not only get along well, it would be a great show - and cooking for them would be a blast!

Used to like having brunch with my grandmothers before they died; it was always a "can't believe there's no meat in this experience." Among the living, how about President Obama and VP Biden? Food this good would help them see how tasty the vegan lifestyle can be. And maybe next time they choose to drop in on a local DC eatery for lunch/brunch, they'll GO VEG!

MizzB continued:Third person, in addition to President BO, and VP JB, I'd invite Dr. Neal Barnard from PCRM; he'd help answer their questions on the health benefits of the plant based diet, and how this should be a cornerstone of America;s health care policy.

I love brunches! I have a problem with it. If anybody happens to be sleeping over at my house, I have a compulsion to make them an awesome Vegan breakfast! THIS looks like it is sure to please, and I will have to try it out on my next guest! :D

Fav people to have brunch with - I like brunch with strangers, actually. Usually, it leads to refreshing conversation, and good company. If no strangers are available (by strangers I mean whom ever passed out on my couch the night before that I didn't get a chance to talk to that night), I'll take my best friends Pat, Jamie, and Michael, who are all always amazing.

My sister, who is an awesome experimental cook, and musician Andrew Bird plus Thom Yorke from Radiohead (possibly close to being or are vegan). That would be so IDEAL -- I love thinking about the conversations we would have!

i don't think i would pick people i don't know to share a brunch with if i could pick anyone... i would most likely pick some family members, because i love them oh so much & don't get to spend enough time as i'd like with them. maybe my mother, grandmother & cat or boyfriend ( but don't tell my boyfriend that!)

1) my mom-- b/c even though she's not vegan, she taught me practically everything I know about cooking2) my Vegan Assistant, because I want to spend more time with her outside of work, and plus, duh she's vegan3) Either Jenniferschmoo (from VeganLunchbox)'s fabulous son or Little2Ant (from vegweb)'s amazing activist son, because kids are awesome, especially compassionate veg*n ones

Three of those people that you meet every day. You know 'em, the ones who say that vegan food is "rabbit food" or anything in that area of thought. If we were eatin' what ya'll are serving, those three random veg-haters would ALSO be eating their words. Ha HA!

My cousin, because we both love brunch & laugh a lot together, my friend PRW2 because he loves food. He enjoys every bite of a good meal and introduces me to new things and my friend Rox who also loves brunch and always has a great story. So I won Monday's book (which I was super thrilled about =D) & was not sure if I could post again. But then I thought why not? If nothing else, just to add to the conversation.

I would love to spend a long morning with Isa, Sarah Dessen, and Annie Leibovitz, all for inspiration from their respective careers... I could use some inspiration, which is why I could totally use a copy of Vegan Brunch :)

I'm a bigger fan of "Brinner" [Breakfast for dinner] and my roommates and I have quarterly vegan brinners in which we invite all of our closest friends. I would love to invite Paul McCartney, Rory Freedman, and Milo Ventimiglia!

billy west-(voice of frye from futurama), weird al yankovic, and my mother. food would be a priotity of course, but i'd want to really see how quickly my mom could make two celebrities experience some good ol' fashioned jewish guilt.

1. Carol J. Adams2. Derrick Jensen (love all his books, especially A Language Older Than Words3. plus, Harold Brown because he's awesome and compassionate and knows so much. I would love some more time to talk with him.

Plus, I think all three of these people have done such amazing work and would have plenty to talk about amongst each other while I fed them vegan goodies.

They're not famous, but to us (my partner and me), my mother Diane, step-father Capt'n Jim, and her father Byron, would be our most cherished guests! They live very far away, have been our best supporters and SO important in our lives, and we see them so seldom, AND her dad and my folks have never met - it would be such a special event to have them all in one place to eat a loving, yummy, vegan meal! Let the planets align!